Lois Cooper | MuskokaTODAY.com OPINION The Province of Ontario has been telling the people of Ontario for the past 50 years that the public health-care system is not sustainable. OPINION In 1974 the first cuts to hospital beds across the province took place by none other than Muskoka MPP and minister of health Frank Miller. It […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com HUNTSVILLE — Keep calm and carry on. That was Day 4 here for Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare tonight as the war of words over the new hospitals ended its first week of community engagements. With MPP Graydon Smith at his second MAHC meeting in as many nights, some 250+ people filled almost […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com BRACEBRIDGE — Ontario Greens Leader Mike Schreiner will have his new deputy party leader, Matt Richter, with him Monday when he holds a Town Hall meeting here. The party says Richter, who nearly upset MPP Graydon Smith in the last provincial election, is “pleased to announce that Matt Richter has been […]
LETTER TO EDITOR: Re: North-south hospital divide Here is what I see. Muskoka can’t afford more than a BILLION DOLLARS for new hospitals. The healthcare model is changing to a DISPERSED MODEL. Muskoka wants TWO EQUAL HOSPITALS in Bracebridge and Huntsville. Current hospitals are filled with NON-CRITICAL ALC PATIENTS. Solution is THREE TRANSITIONAL-CARE facilities — […]
Lois Cooper | MuskokaTODAY.com OPINION Wouldn’t you vote for a politician who says I will raise your taxes and you will get the health care you need and want? Our municipal and district property taxes rise each year. We don’t start shouting in the streets. We know that if we want the roads plowed, kept in […]
Lois Cooper | MuskokaTODAY.com MUSKOKA — You can’t afford it! You can’t afford it! You can’t afford it! That is the mantra of the Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare board to the people attending the “chat” in Gravenhurst on Tuesday night. Well, yes, we can afford it, I say! The “it” being great health care and two […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com GRAVENHURST — A tough crowd on the verge of out of hand greeted the MAHC board tonight over the “lesser” of two new hospitals. It’s a good thing next week’s meeting in Bracebridge has been rescheduled to the Sportsplex community room. Because if this crowd is indicative of what awaits the […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com DWIGHT — Bruce Kruger is Bracebridge’s Town Crier. And did he have a cry for Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare last night in Dwight at a public meeting on the future of Muskoka’s two hospitals. He expressed what he and he says others in south Muskoka have said privately and online this week. […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com DWIGHT — Live by the scalpel, die by the scalpel. That’s Muskoka’s hospitals. After the province cut them some slack in agreeing to two hospitals, the Ministry of Health nipped and tucked their billion-dollar budget. Two equal, full-service hospitals became “complimentary” last fall when COVID bludgeoned Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare’s $1.6-billion projected […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com MUSKOKA — The divisive issue of how Muskoka’s hospitals will operate in a decade takes centre stage starting tonight in Dwight. After 41 doctors in south Muskoka overwhelmingly came out on the weekend — in strongly-worded letter criticizing a ‘Made-in-Muskoka’ “model of care” — Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare is preparing for a […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com MUSKOKA — A petition to dissolve the MAHC board of directors — ending its new hospitals plans — and to return independent public boards to the South Muskoka and Huntsville District hospitals began circulation this weekend in person and online. Former MPP Dan Waters who opposes the changes, says in a […]
HUNTSVILLE — An accident early last September here has led to charges against a Huntsville man. An OPP investigation of the collision on Highway 60, which began September 6, follows the “serious” 6 p.m. accident Emergency services responded and the OPP Traffic Incident Management and Enforcement (TIME) team was dispatched in the area of Fairyview […]
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: ED. NOTE: On the eve of public conversations on the future plans for SMMH and HDMH, this coming week, local doctors have ‘endorsed’ a letter expressing major concerns with the plan to be presented to the province this spring. MuskokaTODAY.com received the following letter Sunday, January 28. Re: MuskokaAlgonquinHealthcareHospital Redevelopment Model […]
MUSKOKA — Police charged three people with impaired driving offences over the weekend. Early this morning, January 28, at 2 a.m. a member of the public called police to express their concerns about a person’s ability to drive after they left an address in Bracebridge. Police conducted patrols and located and stopped the vehicle on […]
HUNTSVILLE — Thieves hungry for cash — and chocolate — made off with both in three recent break and enters here. The overnight shopping sprees last week leave police investigating separate incidents — second and third a half hour apart. On Tuesday January 16 at 12:30 a.m., a male suspect forced entry to a restaurant […]
EDITOR/PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com MUSKOKA — District and municipal governments are grappling with ways to provide legally-required notices — particularly around planning issues — now that the last hard-copy newspaper is no longer being dropped in driveways. After a major town and district mix-up this month on the public announcements regarding proposed changes […]
HUNTSVILLE — One person suffered smoke inhalation treatment in hospital last night after a $500,000 fire destroyed a home here. Just after 6:30 p.m. Thursday January 25, Huntsville/Lake of Bays Fire Fighters responded to the structure fire on Lengra Hollows in Huntsville. Fire crews from Station 1 Huntsville, Station 5 Port Sydney and Station 4 […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com MUSKOKA — Former MPP Dan Waters claims Muskoka’s two new hospitals “won’t be equal.” Both will have ERs, but Huntsville will have most of the beds at 139 and Bracebridge with just 14 beds would make it a “satellite,” he charges. “It’s like they did to Burk’s Falls’ hospital.” It “doesn’t […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com BRACEBRIDGE — Hwy. 118 east was closed for several hours at suppertime last night after two vehicles collides leaving one person in hospital and another airlifted to Toronto with serious, life-altering injuries. Police are investigating the collision that occurred on Highway 118 East in Bracebridge on January 24. They say that […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com GRAVENHURST — Long days aren’t unusual for small business owners like Tara and Ian McNaughton. But when you start the day with a 4 a.m. call to police about a store break-in, you know it’s the beginning of another 18-hour day. The McNaughtons’ day began very early yesterday when a thief […]